


Nudge Them Together

by Chezmeralda



Series: With a Step Forward, I'm Closer to Reaching You - Companion Pieces [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 03:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chezmeralda/pseuds/Chezmeralda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>RinReiGisa conspiracy happens. This is their side to chapter 12 and 13 of my MakoHaru fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nudge Them Together

**Author's Note:**

> Full of antics. Antiiiics. Don't let Nagisa interfere with anything lol

Nagisa hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling of his room. He began to smile uncontrollably, and soon he couldn't help the giggle that burst forth from his throat, flailing his limbs as his giggling grew louder and more uncontrollable.

This was probably the most genius plan that he'd ever thought up. Second to getting Rei to join the swim team in their first year of high school.

He turned over on his bed, lying flat on his stomach, and pressed speed dial on his phone. It rung a couple of times before he heard a soft click. "Nagisa-kun?" Rei answered with a slight bit of confusion in his voice. 

"Hold on Rei-chan! I need to call Rin-chan, too!" he explained as he began to set up the three way call. He heard Rei mutter in more confusion, and sure enough both of them heard a ring on the phone, before a rather disgruntled sounding Rin answered.

"Nagisa, do you even know what time it is?" he muttered with a scratchy voice. Nagisa could only guess he'd been busy early this morning doing some English translations for his publishing firm, and was trying to catch up on some sleep.

"Weh, it's only ten, Rin-chan!" he replied, sounding indignant at how old his friends acted. They weren't even close to being twenty-five and yet most of them acted like they were fifty. "That's not important! I have to tell you guys something."

"What's more important than sleep, Nagisa?" Rin countered as he stretched audibly over the phone, joints popping. "If I recall, _you_ are the most difficult person to wake up in the mornings."

"Perhaps we should just let Rin-san sleep, Nagisa-kun," Rei chimed in after a while, and Nagisa heard paper rustling in the background. "He has early mornings after all." They heard a huffed out 'Thank-you' in the background.

"No, but listen! This is probably important to Rin-chan, too!" Nagisa tried to explain. "Okay, so, I told Haru-chan that we should all go to the mall this Saturday for that expo happening..."

There was a heavy pause over the line and Nagisa could practically hear Rei and Rin thinking. "But didn't we say we were too busy for that?" Rei asked, skeptical.

"Yeah, Nagisa," Rin agreed with slow words, deliberately processing everything.

"Yeah, but Haru-chan doesn't know that!" Nagisa continued on. "I told him to meet us at around one."

"Nagisa, what's going on?" Rin asked now, on full alert.

"Are you planning something, Nagisa-kun?" Rei chimed in, beginning to get at what Rin was hinting.

Nagisa huffed indignantly. "You guys always suspect me of planning things," he whined over the phone, playing with his nails. He had tried on nail polish on himself and was regarding his work, thinking about if he should use the brand at his salon. "I just want Haru-chan to have a good time, is all!"

"Yeah, but with no one there?" Rin countered. "If no one's there, he'll just go home."

"Not if Mako-chan's there, too," Nagisa trailed off as he typed in an online order for the nail polish. There was another heavy silence and Nagisa was waiting for a reaction.

"Nagisa-kun," Rei finally managed, more rustling papers, probably a report on bacteria levels in the sea or whatever, Nagisa couldn't quite remember what he had said it was about, "I thought we agreed not to rush them."

"But that's so _boring_ ," Nagisa complained loudly through the phone as he picked out colours. "They've known each other for _years_! It's not like they're meeting for the first time!"

"But Makoto hasn't been talking to any of us for the last five years, Nagisa," Rin interrupted, bed creaking under him as he moved to sit. "So it's sort of like they're meeting for the first time."

"But you _want_ them to get together, Rin-chan," Nagisa argued as he rolled around on his chair. " _We all_ want them to get together. Why is no one excited that I thought of this?" 

"Because what if it gets painfully awkward?" Rin supplied, now fully participating in the conversation. "You know Haru. He's ridiculous when it comes to conversation. And it's not like he and Makoto are on their normal speaking terms anymore. There's that five year silence, remember? How do you know this isn't just going to make things worse?"

"I have to agree on this, Nagisa-kun," Rei said after a while, keyboard noises in the background. "If this goes wrong, this could be another hurdle that Haruka-san has to deal with, and I think he's already dealing with enough on his own."

Nagisa grumbled a little before crossing his arms. "Well, I guess we're just going to have to make sure that it doesn't get super awkward, then, right?" he suggested.

The third silence from the other two made Nagisa think that they were really slow on the uptake.

"Nagisa," Rin whined. "I already _said_ that I can't go. You're just making this difficult."

"My boss has a seminar at eleven that day, Nagisa-kun," Rei said. "I doubt this is going to work. I can't leave early on account of _stalking my friends so their love lives go well_."

"We're not stalking!" Nagisa felt offended. "We're supervising. It's completely different." Nagisa heard silence, and he sighed. "Come on, please? This isn't for looking at the expo anymore, this is for them. If we leave Haru-chan to his own devices, it'll be another five years."

Rin sighed over the phone. "Let me see what I can work out and I'll get back to you," he supplied. Nagisa felt himself get excited, and Rin hung up.

"I'll be late, but I'll try to make it," Rei replied, sounding defeated. Nagisa was practically beaming now.

"Thank you, Rei-chan!" he chirped happily into the phone. 

"It's no trouble, I really do worry about those two after all," Rei said. There was a knowing quiet between them. The unspoken feelings Nagisa was sure both Haru and Makoto had for each other, the months apart when he had gone to Tokyo, the failed confession, Haru's dissent into depression, and the five years of silence from Makoto were weighing on both of their minds.

"Hey, Rei-chan?" Nagisa was quiet, timid. "Promise that nothing like this will ever happen to us, okay?"

Rei spluttered a little bit on the other end of the phone, but Nagisa heard him go quiet and he knew that Rei understood what he meant. "Of course," came the reply. "I promise to come to you right away if there's anything bothering me about us."

"Me too," Nagisa felt relief. "Good night, Rei-chan."

"Sleep well, Nagisa-kun," and the line went quiet. 

Nagisa looked at his phone for a bit, staring at the home screen before placing it at his bed side. He lay down and stared up at the ceiling. He knew this might not bring Haru and Makoto back to how things were between them all those years ago, when Makoto laughed easily around Haru and when Haru accepted Makoto's presence as second nature, but he hoped it would help.

He prayed that it would.

\---

"Rin-chan! Over here!" Nagisa flailed his arms to get the red head's attention as he whispered loudly. Rin snuck over to him and crouched, hidden partially by the shrubbery. 

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" he mumbled to him, grumpy but not unwilling. Both of them scanned the crowd of people in front of the mall. 

"Because we're ensuring a future of happiness," Nagisa said determinedly as he squinted to focus his eyes better. Neither of them were here yet, and it was already a little past one o'clock. Were both of them going to bail?

"Wait! There's Haru," Rin tapped his shoulder and Nagisa turned his head slightly. Sure enough, there was Haru, looking a bit out of breath from walking quickly. Nagisa felt momentary relief, and began to search for Makoto.

A moment later, Makoto showed up, and from a distance they saw him seemingly apologize to Haru before sitting down next to him

They sat in a crouch for a few minutes before Rin spoke up. "This is killing me, Nagisa," Rin muttered, mussing his hair. "They haven't said a word. Haru looks so out of place..."

Nagisa sighed a little before pulling out his phone, dialing a number before putting it near his ear, letting Rin lean in as they watched the couple from their hideout. "Mako-chan!" he answered frantically, looking at Rin in panic. He didn't quite think this through.

They both heard, "Nagisa, where are you guys?" and Rin began to wave his hands with fervor, urging for Nagisa to come up with something, _anything_.

"Sorry Mako-chan! Rei got his head stuck in a fishing net, so he can't make it," he heard Rin silently yelling at him for the pathetic excuse.

"Rei what?" Makoto sounded dubious and concerned over the phone, and Nagisa kept going.

"Rin managed to get paper cuts all over his body from the printer, so I'm at the hospital with him right now," Nagisa continued, and he watched Rin press his palms into his eyes.

"Rin did what???" he heard Makoto's voice go higher with concern. "Uh, well Haru and I are here already, did you want us to-"

"Bye Mako-chan!" Nagisa yelled rather panicked as he hung up the phone to cut him off. Rin looked like he wanted to strangle him, both of them watching the two of them look at each other with confusion. 

"Please let this work," Nagisa whispered through clasped fingertips as they watched them slowly meander towards a pamphlet stall. He turned his head to footsteps behind them, and they saw Rei trot up to them, watching them with furrowed brows.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked as he crouched next to them. Rin pointed towards the pair that was sitting on the bench, Makoto unfolding a pamphlet between them. The three of them looked on with bated breath.

"I swear, if Haru messes this up..." Rin muttered under his breath, shifting his position as he bit at his nails nervously.

The three of them watched the atmosphere grow tense as they saw Makoto's facial expression dropped. "Ahhhhh, I wish we could hear them!" Nagisa cried as he bit into his shirt, pulling at it. 

"Haru must have said something weird," Rin mumbled, "otherwise he wouldn't look so concerned like that."

Rei had his hands pressed over his mouth as he watched. "No, no," he whispered, waving to the other two, "looks like Haruka-san tried to fix it." They watched the tense atmosphere melt as Makoto seemed to smile easier, and all three of them breathed a sigh of relief. They watched the two of them get up and begin to browse the expo.

"Should we follow them?" Rin asked as they began to lose sight of the couple.

"Probably best not to," Rei replied. "If we get caught it'll just make things more awkward."

All three of them stood up and stretched before they walked away from the mall. They were discussing how they hoped the date would go, and guessed that it was probably for the best that they weren't watching the whole thing, when from the corner of Nagisa's eye he saw a wave of faintly familiar wavy, dark hair. 

Nagisa stopped in the middle of the side walk to watch the figure that just passed them, clad in pretty summer dress as it walked to the entrance of the mall. Nagisa held fast onto Rei's sleeve, stopping him mid sentence.

"Nagisa-kun?" Rei asked as he turned back to look at Nagisa. "Is something wrong?"

He turned back with wide eyes to Rin and Rei, who were watching him with concerned expressions. "That was Haku-chan just now..."

**Author's Note:**

> .... and that's it! that's they're side of the date they set up Makoto and Haru on. obviously they don't do anything about Hakune. it would have been too obvious otherwise.


End file.
